The Courier-Mail has tracked down Dr Jayant Patel to a
million-dollar
mansion in the leafy suburbs of Portland, Oregon.

The Indian-trained doctor who fled Queensland after
being linked to
several deaths and injuries at Bundaberg Hospital refused to answer
questions
yesterday when confronted by The Courier-Mail.

"My attorney has told me not to say anything," Dr Patel
said as he retreated
into his home.

It is unclear whether Dr Patel had returned to work as a
surgeon in
Portland but inquiries have revealed he is still registered as a
surgeon
in the northwestern American state.

The Courier-Mail also has uncovered a damning report
showing 55-year-old
Dr Patel has been involved in the deaths of patients for more than 10
years.

As far back as 1994, some nine years before the
Queensland Medical Board
allowed him to practise surgery in Australia, Dr Patel's actions led to
the death of a patient in Oregon – the first of three Oregon patients
who
died after he operated on them.

In Australia Dr Patel, the director of surgery at
Bundaberg on a package
worth $200,000 a year, made the most of his stint in Wide Bay. He lived
in a spacious apartment near the waterfront at Bargara. Local retailers
recall a smiling, plump man with a swarthy look and a distinctive
American
accent.

Dr Jayant Patel's luxury home in Portland, Oregon

Oregon Board of Medical Examiners' documents obtained by
The Courier-Mail
detail Dr Patel's involvement in the deaths of three patients and the
permanent
injury to another.

The board documents also say Dr Patel's actions violated
the Oregon
Medical Practice Act and he engaged in unprofessional or dishonourable
conduct and gross or repeated acts of negligence.

Among the cases that led to the Oregon Board of Medical
Examiners' findings
in November 2000 were:

• A man, 65, who died in November 1994 two days after Dr
Patel performed
pancreatic surgery. He had seven litres of blood in his abdomen.

• A woman, 83, who died in November 1996 of
post-operative complications,
seven days after Dr Patel performed pancreatic and colon surgery. She
was
found with a litre of blood in her abdomen.

• A man, 67, who died in September 1997 the day after Dr
Patel performed
liver surgery. He had almost two litres of blood in his abdomen.

• A man, 59, who permanently lost gastrointestinal
function in August
1997 after Dr Patel performed a colostomy "backwards".

Dr Patel's involvement in the deaths and injury were
uncovered by an
inquiry by the private Portland hospital where he was working and the
incidents
had occurred.

In 1998, the Kaiser Permanente Northwest Hospital became
concerned about
Dr Patel's conduct and reviewed 79 of his patient files.

The hospital banned Dr Patel from carrying out surgery
involving the
pancreas and restrictions were placed on him performing surgery on the
liver and ileoanal pouches.

The hospital also implemented mandatory second opinions
on all complicated
surgeries and filed a report with US authorities.

That June 1998 notification led to the Board of
Examiners investigation
and subsequent finding against Dr Patel.

On November 1, 2000, Dr Patel was issued with a
statewide ban on performing
any pancreatic surgery and restrictions were placed on liver and
ileoanal
procedures.

But a few months after that finding, Dr Patel was
practising surgery
in New York, before an April 2001 order from the New York Board for
Professional
Medical Conduct forced him to surrender his physician's licence.